Only You Can Love Me This Way
by DiaryOfLacey
Summary: Following his divorce from Kathy, Elliot's found love again with Chelsea Szalinsky. The catch? She's twenty years younger than Stabler. Can his new love last? Or will their age difference spell the end for Elliot and Chelsea? StablerxOC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I'm trying out this idea, please let me know what you think! I always thought Elliot would be better suited as a single man and then after a suggestion from a friend, I came upon the thought of him having a much-younger girlfriend. As always, the only thing I own is Chelsea.**

**\- Lacey**

Elliot shrugged off his jacket and dropped it on the chair by the door, heading straight to the fridge for a beer. As he leaned over to grab a bottle from the shelf, two arms wrapped around his abs, a shock of silky blonde hair falling over his shoulder. "I've been waiting all damn day for you to get home, Detective Stabler." Chelsea moved to sit on the counter, pulling Elliot by his shirt collar over to stand between her legs. She was wearing only a nearly-nonexistent pair of black lace panties and a cropped white tank top that read 'Dirrty' in silver glitter, her long hair in a sexy mess of waves. The twenty seven year old (twenty years her lover's junior) had caught his attention when his divorce from Kathy became final, when she'd sidled up to him at the bar and asked if he wanted to dance. Three slow dances later, they were wrapped around each other in a cab and headed back to his apartment, and they'd been together ever since. Chelsea Szalinsky loved yoga, football, and beer, and she was the perfect person for Stabler. He'd even thought about making her Mrs. Chelsea Stabler a few times, but he continually worried that their age difference would break the relationship.

His attention was redirected as Chelsea pulled off her tank top and tossed it in the floor, revealing a bra that looked like nothing more than a strip of black lace. She nuzzled her face against his cheek, her breath hot on his ear. "I know you'll probably get called back to the station in a little while, so why don't we make it a quickie?" Her French-manicured fingers crept up to the buttons of his shirt, unbuttoning each one slowly. When she reached the bottom, she jerked the shirt back off his broad shoulders, tilting her head to press a passionate kiss to his lips. She slid off the counter, stepping behind Elliot with a smirk. She folded her fingers together into the shape of a gun, pressing her hand into the small of Stabler's back. "Now just keep moving, Detective, right on into the bedroom. And don't try any funny business."

Stabler sauntered to the bedroom, throwing his hands up in mock surrender and trying not to think about how hard Chelsea was making him. They made it into the bedroom, Stabler whirling around to grab Chelsea and pull her against him. "Sorry, Detective Beautiful, but you should've just put me in cuffs."

Chelsea smirked, her hands coming up to stroke Elliot's chest. "I was saving that for the weekend, Detective." She winked, catching Stabler off guard and pushing him back so that he landed on his back on their bed. Elliot watched her with a smirk as she crawled to straddle his hips, her manicured hands unclasping his belt, pulling it through his belt loops. With that out of the way, she undid his pants, teasingly pulling the zipper down, until his plaid boxers were exposed. Her eyes lit up when she felt him get harder underneath. Pausing a moment, Chelsea leaned over into the nightstand drawer, producing a condom. Without hesitation, she tore the foil wrapper open with her teeth, rolling the latex down onto Elliot's erection. Then she teasingly pulled her tiny panties off, exposing the glistening wetness between her legs before sitting down hard on his thick shaft, letting out a throaty moan. After a moment to adjust herself to Elliot's manhood stretching her womanhood wide, she began to lift herself up, then sat back down, earning a manly groan from the detective. She stopped, smirking at her boyfriend. "Feel good, Detective?"

In response, Elliot managed to roll them over, with him now on top of Chelsea. The blonde gasped in surprise, another moan escaping her as her eyes fluttered. "Feel good, Chels?" He watched her teeth sink into her bottom lip, taking that as a yes. Chelsea's long legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him deeper into her as he began sliding in and out of her at a quick-but-gentle pace. Her manicured nails dug into the bedsheets, clenching them in her fists as her head fell back against the pillows. "Right there, Elliot, fuck, I love you!" The combination of Chelsea's hot, tight wetness and her lust-filled voice yelling his name sent Elliot over the edge, Chelsea tightening around him as they came in unison.

Once they regained their senses, Elliot rolled off of Chelsea, laying beside her with his arm around her as she reached and pulled the thin comforter up over them. For a few moments all that was heard was their panting in the silence of their bedroom, Chelsea running her hand over Elliot's chest as she pressed a kiss to his neck. "Amazing as always, baby." He chuckled at her compliment, kissing the top of her head and taking in the scent of her green apple shampoo mixed with her sweat. Suddenly a shrill ringing sound broke their serene moment, Elliot groaning as he realized his phone was ringing. Chelsea giggled from beside him. "You knew it was going to happen."

He grabbed the phone from the nightstand, flipping it open with one hand. "Stabler."

"Elliot, it's Olivia. We've got a body." His partner's voice came through the phone, Elliot groaning inwardly. He'd just left the station an hour and a half ago, and now he was being called back. All he wanted to do was spend time with Chelsea, but no. Finally he sat up in bed, Chelsea rolling onto her back beside him, her hair spread over the pillow. "Alright, I'll be there in ten minutes." Hanging up, he looked over at his beautiful girlfriend, who met him with a sweet smile. "I gotta go, babe."

She nodded. "I know. I'll see you when you get home." She folded one arm under her head, propping herself up to look at him as he gave her an apologetic look. "It's fine, it's your job. Go." Elliot swung his legs off the bed, tossing the condom in the trashcan and pulling on his clothes. Once he was dressed, he leaned over, pressing a kiss to Chelsea's lips.

"I love you, beautiful." After pressing a second kiss to her lips, Elliot headed for the door, looking over his shoulder one last time at Chelsea, the blonde blowing him a kiss as she lay back in the bed.

God, he hated to leave her, but duty called.

Besides, he'd make it up to her when he got home.


	2. Chapter 2

When he returned home that night nursing a migraine, Chelsea met him at the door with two aspirin and a kiss. "You really have to stop being so stressed, El. It's not good for you." Taking his hand, she led him to the couch, making him sit on the floor in front of her. "You're so tense, I think a good massage is just what you need." She began rubbing his shoulder as she sat behind him, relieving the tension in his muscles. "So how was the case?"

Elliot leaned back against her legs, closing his eyes. "We got DNA and matched it to a Ryan Collins, I've gotta go interview his parole officer tomorrow."

Chelsea was grateful Elliot's eyes were closed so he didn't see the expression that crossed her face. "So it's gonna be another long day tomorrow?"

Elliot nodded. "I'm sorry, but it is." He could tell by Chelsea's voice that she was disappointed. Turning to look at her, he put an arm on her knee, Chelsea pressing a kiss to his cheek, her smile returning. "Don't worry about it, Detective, I know it's your job. I knew what I was doing when I got in this." She then pushed his arm off her knee, playfully shoving his shoulder. "Now turn back around so I can finish this massage."

She went back to massaging Elliot's shoulders, not surprised at the amount of tension in his muscles. Chelsea knew his job was stressful, she knew his ex-wife Kathy was still stressing him out, and she knew Elliot stressed about his kids, whom Kathy refused to let him see. So she did her best to keep him as happy and de-stressed as possible when he was with her, because if there was one thing Chelsea hated, it was stress.

Just when they had settled into a relaxed state, the house phone rang. Elliot swore under his breath as he got up, Chelsea beating him to it and checking the caller ID. She sighed. "It's Kathy." She saw the change in Elliot's expression, the darkening of his face that any mention of Kathy always brought about. "Elliot, just don't answer it. She's probably just calling to whine about something again. Besides, the answering machine'll pick it up."

"Chelsea, you know I can't just ignore her. What if something's wrong with one of the kids?" When he picked the phone up, Chelsea sighed, knowing he'd be on the phone for at least ten minutes because Kathy would start some sort of argument. She headed into the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of wine and leaning on the counter.

"Hello?" Kathy was so loud Chelsea heard her when she replied.

"Elliot! Your child support was late _again_. If you keep this up, we're going back to court! You need to start worrying more about your children than your little slut!" Elliot rubbed his forehead, feeling the migraine returning. Chelsea raised an eyebrow, as if saying 'I told you so'. Turning on her heel, she stomped into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Who was that, that stupid bimbo?" "Leave Chelsea out of this, Kathy. I'll get your money to you, so do me a favor and don't call me again!" Elliot hung up, tossing the phone on the counter to go and try to make amends with Chelsea.

The door was locked when he tried the knob, Stabler leaning on the door and knocking once. "Chels? Chelsea?"

"It's 'little slut' actually!" There were tears in her voice when she responded, which was like a kick to the gut for Elliot. He hated hearing her cry, and felt even worse because Kathy had caused it.

"Just open the door, princess, please." There was a long pause before he heard the lock on the door turn, Chelsea flinging it open before she stormed back to the bed and climbed under the covers. Her back was to Elliot as he sat down on the side of the bed, the shaking of her shoulders giving away that she was silently crying.

"Chelsea, what's wrong?"

"Am I just some bimbo to you? Because apparently everyone else thinks I am. Kathy thinks I'm a golddigger, people that see us together ask if I'm waiting on a ring and a payout. Nobody thinks I'm with you because I genuinely love you." Elliot felt like someone had punched him in the gut at the amount of sadness in Chelsea's voice. He loved her beyond words, and he knew she felt the same way about him, but it had never occured to him that the jabs about the age difference affected her that much. Sure, he'd heard the occasional joke from his friends at work when they had first gotten together, he'd even heard the whispers behind their backs when they walked down the street together. But Chelsea always laughed at the remarks, always brushed them off like they didn't matter, so he was shocked to see her break down now.

He walked over to sit on the edge of the bed, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. She didn't turn to face him, remaining facing the wall and crying. "Chelsea, I know you love me, and that's all that matters. Who gives a damn what anyone else has to say, especially from Kathy? She doesn't know a damn thing."

The blonde just pulled the blankets farther up on her, almost completely covering herself. "Don't worry about it, it doesn't matter anyway. I'm the trophy girlfriend, always have been and always will be. It doesn't matter how I feel."

"Chels, it does matter-!" She silenced Elliot's words with a hand held up, shrugging his hand off her shoulder.

"Goodnight, Elliot. We can talk in the morning. I love you."

Resigning with a sigh, Elliot got up to strip down to his boxers, climbing into bed beside Chelsea. He pressed a kiss to her temple, then turned over so his back was to her since she refused to face him. "Goodnight, Chels, I love you too."

As he lay beside her trying to think of what he could say to ease her doubts about their relationship, Elliot began to think of all the reasons he loved her. Chelsea was beautiful, she was funny, she was the smartest woman he'd ever met. She loved sports and was always the life of the party, but then again she could never be happier than when they just spent the night at home together. She never argued or fought or caused him stress, like Kathy had done countless times over the course of their marriage. Chelsea made life good again, and for the first time in over twenty five years he was glad to come home at night because she was there.

Chelsea was his world, and everything good in his life began and ended with her.

And if it was the last thing he did, he'd find a way to fix this and remind her that she was the best thing that had ever happened to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So I finally found the draft of this chapter that I'd lost, and I'm finally finding inspiration for this story again! I'm so sorry for the long wait, and I hope you all enjoy getting back into this story! As always, please read and review! Love as always, Lacey.**

The next morning, Chelsea seemed to have forgotten about the Kathy debacle, instead smiling cheerily when Elliot walked into the kitchen to find her flipping pancakes. "Good morning, sweetheart! I know you don't have a lot of time before you go to work, but I made you breakfast." She quickly fixed him a plate, sitting it on the kitchen counter with a smile. Elliot warily sat down to eat, watching Chelsea carefully as if expecting her to blow up out of nowhere.

"Chels, do you feel okay?" The blonde laughed at his question, leaning on the counter across from him.

"Ya know, Elliot, I've decided that no matter what, Kathy's always going to be in your life because of your kids, and there's nothing I can do other than accept her, no matter how bitchy and intolerable she acts towards me. I love you, and that's enough to make up for her attitude. So don't worry about what she said about me last night, I honestly don't care." With another of her angelic smiles, Chelsea left Elliot to his breakfast as she headed into the laundry room to get clothes out of the dryer. Elliot finished off the food quickly, getting up from the counter to drop his dishes in the sink before sauntering into the laundry room behind his girlfriend.

He wrapped his arms around her slender waist, pulling her back against him as she giggled, dropping the handful of his button-down shirts she was holding. "You're the most amazing woman in the world, you know that, right?"

"Oh, so now that I've decided that killing Kathy is out of the question, I'm amazing?" Chelsea smirked as she turned to face Elliot, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course." With a smirk of his own, Elliot kissed Chelsea, smacking her ass playfully before he turned to leave. "I'll see you after work, baby, I love you."

"I love you too!" Her bright voice made him smile as the door shut behind him.

Chelsea entered the squad room, looking around for Elliot. Olivia saw her as she came in the door, and waved her over to her desk. "Hey Chels, what brings you here?"

"I need to see Elliot, is he here?" The blonde seemed a little nervous, her fingers anxiously twisting the charm on the zipper of her hoodie.

"No, not right now. He and Finn went to interview a witness, but I'm sure he'll be back soon. You can sit at his desk until he gets back if you want." Olivia watched the blonde's movements, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. "Chelsea, are you okay?"

After a moment, Chelsea gave Olivia a smile. "I'm perfect, Liv." Pausing a second, Chelsea reached in her bag, pulling out a manila envelope. She pushed it toward Olivia, and the detective opened it. Pulling out a sheet of glossy paper, her mouth dropped open as she flipped it over and saw an ultrasound. Looking up, she saw Chelsea grinning widely. "I'm pregnant, Olivia."

"Congratulations, Chels! This is amazing, Elliot's going to be so happy!" Olivia's smile matched Chelsea's, the detective happy for her partner and his love. "Are you far enough along to tell what it is?"

Chelsea leaned back in the chair, a hand on her still-flat stomach. "Not quite yet, I still have another month or two before that happens. But still, a baby!" Her face fell a little, and she leaned forward to rest her chin on her hand. "I just don't know how Elliot's gonna feel. I mean, I know he loves me and he'll be happy because I'm happy, but he's already got five kids. What's he gonna do with another one?" It was clearly dampering her happiness to worry about Elliot's reaction, so Olivia reached over to pat her hand.

"Chelsea, Elliot's gonna be happy no matter what. Besides, he's always wanted another boy to even out with the girls!" That got a laugh from Chelsea, who's happy glow returned.

"I'm so excited, I can't wait to be a mom, Liv. It's going to be amazing!"

The words were barely out of her mouth when Finn and Elliot entered the squadroom, "What's going to be amazing?" Stabler leaned over to kiss Chelsea, the blonde standing up and smiling widely as she shared a look with Olivia.

"Ell, I have a surprise for you." She paused to pick up the ultrasound from his desk, flipping it over so he couldn't see the image before handing it to him. "Flip it over and look at it."

"What is it?" Elliot looked confused, flipping the glossy sheet over and immediately looking startled as he saw the black and white image. "Chelsea... Is this what I think this is?"

Chelsea was nearly breathless with excitement. "Yeah, Elliot, it is. I'm pregnant."

"Hey, congrats, Stabler, just what we need, another one of you running around!" Finn clapped his fellow detective on the shoulder, Elliot the only one not smiling in the whole group.

Chelsea noticed this, and she lost her smile. "You're not happy, are you?" Tears began to fill her eyes, and she snatched the ultrasound back from his hands. "I knew this was going to happen." She turned to walk away, but Elliot grabbed her arm.

"Baby, wait. Come with me." He led her to an empty interview room, shutting the door behind them. "So you're having a baby?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm nine weeks. We're going to be parents, Elliot. Aren't you happy?"

"I'm happy, Chelsea, I just didn't expect it. I already have five kids-"

Chelsea cut him off, her voice sharp. "Five kids with _Kathy._ But I guess that's okay with you, have kids with her and then just have me around for a good lay when you want it! Nevermind what I want, I'll just waste my life as your whore and never have a family of my own!" The tears that had been welling finally started falling, her voice raising until she was screaming.

Elliot stepped forward and tried to hug her, but Chelsea shoved him away. She clutched the ultrasound to her chest, adjusting her purse on her shoulder as she snatched open the door. "Don't worry about me, Elliot, I'll be fine."

"Where are you going, Chelsea?"

"Away from here! I'll take care of my baby, and you won't have to!"

And then she was gone, storming out of the squadroom in a huff. Elliot chased after her, but by the time he reached the elevator, she was gone. Sighing and running a hand through his hair, he turned back towards his desk, deciding it'd be better to wait until he got home to try and broach this conversation with her again.

Little did he know his world was about to turn upside down.


End file.
